Do you know anything about Daruma Dolls??? {Many surgeons(supervisors/mentors) at the Air Force who trained my daughter during her residency years, called my daughter 'Daruma Doll' because she never gave up, she cried, she suffered, she threw tantrums, but she always bounced back until she becomes one of the best surgeons working for The U.S. Air Force right now. (My daughter got scholarship from the Air Force.)}

Daruma’s design, particularly the shape, color, eyes, and facial hair, each have its own history and symbolic meaning.

Darumas are still usually made of papier-mâché, have a round shape, are hollow, and weighted at the bottom in a way that it will always return to an upright position when tilted over. In Japanese a roly-poly toy is called okiagari. meaning to get up (oki) and arise (agari). This characteristic has come to symbolize the ability to have success, overcome adversity, and recover from misfortune.[10]

Due to this, Daruma is often illustrated alongside the phrase "Nanakorobi Yaoki", translated to mean seven times down, Eight times up. This is seen in the popular culture on cards, banners, and books. One example of this is Dr Alan Gettis' Book entitled, "Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up: Landing on Your Feet in an Upside-down World". Recalling the Story of Daruma-san in the introduction of his book, Dr. Gettis describes the phrase as "a call to never give up."[11]

The tumbler doll style is similar to an earlier toy called the Okiagari Koboshi, the little self-righting monk which was popular in the Kinki region during the mid-17th century. The original okiagari toy, however, is said to have been introduced from Ming China around 1368-1644.[12]

Note: There is an annual Daruma Doll Festival (達磨市 daruma-ichi?) held by the city of Takasaki in celebration of being the proclaimed birthplace of the Daruma doll. The celebration is held at the Shorinzan, the name of Takasaki's "Daruma-Dera". According to the Takasaki City website, "Over 400,000 people from all over the Kanto Plain come to buy new good-luck dolls for the year. Takasaki produces 80% of Japan's Daruma dolls."[9] The festival also features a 24-hour reading of sutras by the Shorinzan monks for world peace.